Realism or Fairytale(was: Innocent Alby?)

[Renee]

No: HPFGUIDX 123189


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "horridporrid03" 
<horridporrid03 at y...> wrote:

<snip>

Renee:
>  it's when the more realistic interpretation invited by 
> OotP is projected back onto the earlier, less realistic books, 
that 
> you get this transition problem. Which is why a more symbolic 
> interpretation seems so promising to me: it has a better chance to 
> keep the whole series together.<
> 
> Betsy:
> This is where we differ a bit.  Because I think JKR set out 
> some "tells" in the first books that hinted that the story was not 
> quite "fairy-tale" and setup the more "realistic" books to come. 
(I 
> went into those "tells" in my last response, so I won't bore 
everyone 
> by repeating myself. :)) 

Renee:
There are hints of realism, especially in GoF, that even I can see, 
especially if I take realism to refer to an unpleasant reality, the 
way it's often used in everyday speech. ("Be realistic" seldom 
means "get your hopes up".) 

Betsy: 
> But I think the big question is really (as 
> Alla pointed out), how well is JKR handling the transition?  Did 
she 
> drop enough hints for readers to follow along or is everything 
> suddenly different?  I don't know if these questions can be fully 
> debated until the end of the series, but it is interesting.

Renee:
Agreed. So far, most of the realism, especially of the unpleasant 
kind, is found in OotP. So we'll have to wait and see what the last 
two books are going to look like. Also, I've realised that again, 
much of the problem is caused by JKR's own comments - and by my own 
unspoken assumptions that 1) it's obvious what JKR means when she 
uses phrases like "epitome of goodness", and 2) that her definitions 
are identical with mine or anyone else's.